Margarita time

Painted stools

Finding off-the-beaten-path places to eat is always fun--these colors drew me right in!

Ah, Mexico...

This photo was taken in Playa del Carmen, a place that feels like an old friend. I have been coming to the Yucatan for the past 15 years to speak Spanish, walk on beautiful beaches, and practice yoga and photography. I think it is my favorite place in the whole world!

Dedicated to Loyce Hood

This photo of an American alligator was taken in Sawgrass Lake Park in St. Petersburg on a shoot with my mentor, photographer Loyce Hood. I dedicate this photo to her because she has inspired me and supported my efforts to learn digital photography. Loyce works tirelessly with countless students and other photographers to create exciting learning environments and bring local photographers together to share their work, ideas, and camaraderie. This is my first photo using my new Nikon SLR (D3000) and processed with Lightroom 2. Thank you, Loyce, for a year of friendship, education, and support.

Gopher Tortoise, Sawgrass Lake Park

Squirrel at Sawgrass Lake Park

Sunshine Skyway Bridge, Tampa Bay

Great blue heron, Sunshine Skyway Fishing Pier

Pia's Trattoria, Gulfport

Greenwood Cemetery, St. Petersburg

Heritage Village Folk Festival

Tarpon Lake

Cat on roof

2nd Street, Safety Harbor

Inside Thai temple

Monks on Palm River

Red cow

Sweet Pea

Goats in a haystack

Hattie

Two donkeys

Waiting for a bus

Snowbird

I have just returned to the Lost River Valley where temperatures are in the teens and there is snow on the ground and ice on the roofs. This isn't a good photo but I want to pay tribute to this little invention. It is called a snowbird and it keeps snow and ice from avalanching off the roof as the sun warms the metal panels and frozen precipitation begins to slide. Rows of these little birds sit low on every standing-seam metal roof, preventing injury to people, plants, and animals below!

Safety Harbor Spa

Under the pier, Safety Harbor

Everyone in Safety Harbor is an artist!

Porches of Safety Harbor

New Year walk in Safety Harbor

Happy New Year!

"Blue Moon, guide us through the shades of darkness as we welcome 2010 under your brilliant light."

Merry Christmas!

Bayshore, Safety Harbor

I took this photo yesterday at meet-up of about 20 local area photographers. We did some shooting and then went to dinner at the Safety Harbor Grill. Everyone is so friendly and fun and full of advice about how I can acquire my first SLR...I'm getting excited!

Wat Mongkulratanaram, Thai temple in Tampa

Traveling south: Low country, South Carolina

Hello journal--I've missed you.

Between an early snow storm and making preparation to leave Lost River for several months, I've been separated from my camera--except for this moment when I looked out the window and saw the bird that poet Mary Oliver say "fires up the landscape in winter." She sees the red bird as a sign of hope after a long period of grief; this interpretation speaks to me.

Red Bird Explains Himself

“Yes, I was the brilliance floating over the snow
and I was the song in the summer leaves, but this was
only the first trick
I had hold of among my other mythologies,
for I also knew obedience: bring sticks to the nest,
food to the young, kisses to my bride.

But don’t stop there, stay with me: listen.

If I was the song that entered your heart
then I was the music of your heart, that you wanted and needed,
and thus wilderness bloomed that, with all its
followers: gardeners, lovers, people who weep
for the death of rivers.

And this was my true task, to be the
music of the body. Do you understand? for truly the body needs
a song, a spirit, a soul. And no less, to make this work,
the soul has need of a body,
and I am both of the earth and I am of the inexplicable
beauty of heaven
where I fly so easily, so welcome, yes,
and this is why I have been sent, to teach this to your heart.”

~ Mary Oliver ~

(Red Bird)